How close is too close with a great white? 12-foot shark tracks a mile from SC beach

A 12-foot great white shark, named Hilton appears to be headed back toward its namesake island of Hilton Head, South Carolina, according to Ocearch, which tracks sharks.

The Twitter account dedicated to Hilton the shark said Wednesday, “Don’t know if you humans knew this but Christmas trees are pretty scarce in this part of the ocean so I spent the Holiday close to shore near Charleston, SC to try and get a good look at one. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!”

Right now @HiltonTheShark is paying a visit to the town he's named after. He is close to the coast a little north of Hilton Head, South Carolina. Hard to believe it’s been nearly two years since we tagged him in this area. pic.twitter.com/HEpsLwWuUi

The 1,300-pound Hilton was about a mile off Folly Beach, south of Charleston, the day after Christmas, Ocearch said in a Facebook post Wednesday.

“It’s the first time we’ve seen him back on the continental shelf in over a month. The big shark is working his way south, possibly back to the Gulf of Mexico where we’ve tracked him in the past,” Ocearch wrote.

It’s not uncommon for Hilton and other great whites to swim close to shore, the Ocearch tracking map shows.

Hilton surfaced four times on Dec. 26 as he made his way south, according to Ocearch. The track is taking him toward Hilton Head, where he was first tagged in 2017, according to the organization.

Ocearch is a nonprofit research organization that tags and tracks sharks and other marine life. The organization publishes a real-time tracker map on its website to follow sharks, whales, turtles and other sea creatures.